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St. Patrick’s Day Food Fun

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Quick and easy shamrock cupcakes. Image courtesy of recipebyphoto.com.

With St. Patrick’s Day only a week away, the party planning better begin.We’ve all seen green beer and green hair, but how many of us can say we ate a green shamrock? These adorable shamrock cupcakes take only a few extra minutes of preparation compared to their regular counterparts.

You’ll need:

1 Cake Mix (any light-colored flavor)
Green Food Coloring
Cupcake Liners
Glass Marbles or Aluminum Foil (rolled into some balls)
Frosting (Green)
For the Smile: You can use black gel writer, or cut a small piece of black string licorice.
For the Eyes: Use paper dot candies and follow directions of my earlier post called Not the Gingerbread Cookies Your Grandma Made or buy pre-made edible ones.

1) Make the cake batter according to package directions and add green food coloring to your desired shade of green.
2) Place the wrappers in each muffin hole and in between the wrapper and pan, place the marbles or rolled foil to help  shape the shamrock.
3) Do not over fill each shamrock with batter- no more than 1/2 full.
4) Bake at the temperature directed by the cake mix box, but for a few minutes less than the time the box suggests.To ensure they are cooked, stick a toothpick into a cupcake and if the pick comes out clean – they’re done. Let cool.
5) Add green food coloring to white frosting if you didn’t purchase green frosting. Frost the cupcakes, add the eyes, and either the gel or tiny strips of black licorice for the smile.
6) Enjoy with friends and family and have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Last Minute, Quick New Year’s Eve Party Ideas

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A quick last minute appetizer. Image courtesy of Weezerthewonderful at FlickrCC.

A quick last minute appetizer. Image courtesy of Weezerthewonderful at FlickrCC.

Not all of us are great planners. So  for those of us who decided to throw a last minute impromptu party, here are a few suggestions:

Keep It Simple Appetizers

  • Cheese/Crackers/Pepperoni Trays
  • Fruit trays – Grapes, Orange Slices, Melons, Kiwi, Strawberries
  • Cheese Ball and Crackers, Bagel Chips or Baguette Slices
  • Veggie Trays – Celery, Baby Carrots, Pepper and Cucumber Slices, and Broccoli or Cauliflower Crowns
  • Rye Bread Bowl – Dig out “bowl” in rye round bread. Break apart bread pieces and scatter around the bowl. Mix 16 oz. sour cream, 1-2 tsp. powdered beef bouillon and 1-2 Tbsp. dill weed for dip center.

Easy Oven Appetizers:

  • Bruschetta
  • Easy Potato Skins
  • Oven BBQ Chicken Wings – In a large foil turkey pan, place 5 pounds of frozen wings to 3 bottles of your favorite sauce and bake between an hour and an hour and a half covered in foil. Remove foil last 10-15 min. for crispier wings.

It doesn’t hurt to ask people to bring their own bottle, dish, dessert, or appetizer to pass.

For quick decorating tips, check out Easy Decorating Ideas for New Year’s Eve by Jan Peterson.

One more thing: Have the Happiest New Year Ever!

The Unexpected

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There are very few things that stop me in my tracks. A serious illness that prevents me from thinking or typing coherently, or…death of a loved one.

It is the later mentioned circumstance that has me at a stand still. These are the first words I’ve been able to type. My 26-year-old daughter died unexpectedly and has turned my world upside down.

The world is a little darker with the beautiful light that was dimmed. My daughter - Tiffany Scheel.

The world is a little darker with the beautiful light that was dimmed. My daughter – Tiffany Scheel.

I want to apologize to my followers for the lack of offerings – especially during these holidays that I am usually all about. I also want to apologize to the people I follow and engage with. I miss our collaboration of creativity.

So for those who enjoyed or looked forward to my posts, please have patience. Somewhere within my broken heart is the writer who wants to continue to share and communicate.

I’m hoping that with each day, I will feel more capable of returning to our exchange and commentary. But for now, this is all I can offer.

Part 3: Making Sally’s Dress (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

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Sally posed to hold a skull, large flower head, or potion.

Sally posed to hold a skull, large flower head, or potion.

If you made the body, head, and hair from my earlier tutorials Part 1 and Part 2, you’re ready to make the clothing for Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

For the dress, decide which color theme you’ll go with. I found several versions – one with a burgundy base, and others using greens and  some with browns and orange tones. It really doesn’t matter which color scheme you go for, but chose ONE. Using too many clashing colors doesn’t work well. Stick with the same tones that compliment each other.

Making the Dress

You’ll need:
2 1/2 – 3 1/2 yards of brown fabric (depends on width)
2-3 yards of main color fabric(for mine I used green)
1 yard blue fabric
2 (1 yard each) complimentary tones fabric
Permanent black marker
Large hot glue gun/glue sticks
Sidewalk chalk and pen
2 safety pins or a couple of straight pins
Tissue paper
Scissors
Continue reading →

Making Sally (Nightmare Before Christmas) Part 1

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Just completed prop of Sally (Nightmare Before Christmas). Image CC All Rights Reserved, Debbie Morrow

Just completed prop of Sally (Nightmare Before Christmas). Image CC All Rights Reserved, Debbie Morrow

Over the next week or two, I’ll be posting separate tutorials on how I made Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. If you want a totally static(not moving) prop, follow the directions below. If you would like your body frame to be pose-able with hinged joints, check out the tutorial at The Haunt Forum.

Making Sally’s Body

You’ll need:
2-3 rolls of box or duct tape
1 1/2 rolls of a dollar store plastic wrap
Scissors
Approx. 2.5 (10 ft. each) one-inch PVC Pipes
1-inch PVC couplers: 1 cross, 1 tee, 4(90 degree angle) elbows and optional 45 or 90 degree elbows(if you want arms to bend)
PVC cutter or saw
Goop Adhesive for PVC
Stuffing material (newspapers, plastic bags, foam, etc.)
1 willing healthy person to be your body form (shouldn’t have circulatory problems or issues standing in place for over 30 minutes)

Throughout the process, make sure your model is feeling okay. Wrapping the plastic or the tape can really be constrictive and problematic for some people.

You can break it into several sessions where you just work on one small section of the body and tape the pieces together afterwards. Continue reading →

Minion Madness

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Minions are everywhere. Image courtesy of Lewallpaper.

Minions are everywhere. Image courtesy of Lewallpaper.

It’s hard not to smile when you look at the minions from Despicable Me.  I’m not sure what it is, but the frenzy has compelled people to recreate them in food, home décor and more. There are even entire sites totally dedicated to those little guys.

Edible Minions

You’d be surprised at how many ways you could eat a minion. Food Beast offers over 30 photos of the minions made in various food forms from Instagram, but alas…no tutorials. After scouring the internet, a few good tutorials did surface:

Rock Ur Party offers many good tutorials on edible, artful creations including minions made from marshmallows.

Restless Chipotle has a minion cupcake tutorial that uses Twinkies and candy eyes. You could also make your own candy eyes with Cook Play Explore’s tutorial.

It’s Almost Genius has a tutorial on how to make minions out of fondant. You can also find tutorials on how to make your own fondant by Steve Quaq at Instructables.

Home Décor Continue reading →

When the Temp Rises: Build Yourself a Water Park

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Make your own with PVC piping. Water park image courtesy of Flickr at 82027065@N00/ 172746497

With the impending heat wave at hand, not everyone will have the luxury of air conditioning or even a swimming pool. Instead of sweating it out, why not cool down in your own mini water park?

You’d be surprised how a little PVC piping can go a long way. It’s inexpensive, easy to use, and lightweight too. Discontinuity and Carl Morris have two easy PVC pipe projects called Kidswash, and Kidswash 2, at Instructables.

If you have a hill in your yard, use it to your advantage. Lay out a sheet of plastic going down the hill, add a sprinkler to wet the plastic and watch the kids slip, slide and dive into action.

Water balloons can be fun, but the mess afterwards can hamper your spirits. Try making Sponge Balls, instead – with directions from Clay Chip at Instructables.

To add to your water zone, buy a snap-up kiddie pool (8 foot in diameter or larger). Even the 24” in depth ones will allow an adult to lay on an air mattress and float – without touching the bottom or sides.

Most of the ideas listed cost less than a commercial water park ticket. Yet, it has the priceless convenience of staying at home. Whatever water feature you decide to add, always be safe. Never leave children unattended – even with just a bucket of water. So stay cool – stay safe – and take lots of pictures.